Team boss Colin Kolles has revealed that the normally aspirated 4.5-litre Gibson V8 that powered the LMH during its inaugural season in the World Championship will be replaced for next year.
Kolles, whose Germany-based team previously operated under the name ByKolles, would not reveal the identity of the engine, although he confirmed that it is a turbocharged unit and has considerable power.
“We can say that we will change the engine for next season – Kolles told Motorsport.com – It will be a turbo and it is a proven engine, with sufficient power and good reliability: it is in no way an experiment”.
Kolles ported the Gibson GL458 V8 to the Vandervell from his team’s CLM P1/01 LMP1, which it has raced with a twin-turbo AER V6 since its debut in 2014 and then with a similarly configured Nissan engine in 2017 and each of the last two races, except that of 2018/19.
“The Gibson engine was unable to reach the maximum power level, measured at the wheels, assigned to the Vanwall in the Hypercar Balance of Performance. In the heat of the day in Bahrain we were down 60 kW (80 hp) and when it was got cooler at night the figure was 50 kW [67 CV]”.
The Vanwall achieved a maximum output of 520kW (697PS) under the BoP for the final three races of the season, having previously run at 511kW and then 512kW.
Gibson Technologies declined to comment on its engine power on the Vanwall.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team Vanwall Vandervell 680: Esteban Guerrieri, Tristan Vautier, Ryan Briscoe
The former ByKolles team returned to the WEC under the Vanwall name this season, after having its entry rejected for 2022. Should Ferrari decide to field a satellite car in collaboration with a customer, it is likely that the Hypercar is overcrowded for 2024.
Asked if he is confident of keeping his seat, Kolles replied: “We’ll see, but we respect all the regulations. The team has built a very good chassis and it’s not an LMDh,” referring to the next-generation LMP2 designs on which they are to be build cars that take advantage of the alternative route in the Hypercar class.
As for the question of drivers for the car in 2024, he said: “I don’t think it will be a big problem.”
Esteban Guerrieri was the only one to race for Vanwall in all seven races this year. Jacques Villeneuve left the team and was replaced by Tristan Vautier after three races, while Tom Dillmann left after four, replaced first by Joao Paulo de Oliveria and then by Ryan Briscoe.
The in-house developed Vanwall from Kolles’ operation scored its only points of 2023 with an eighth-place finish in Hypercar at the season-opening Sebring 1000 in March.
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